Ever year our doctors get together for a strategic planning retreat. Added to my list of quasi-IT tasks is a mapping project for each meeting.

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Primary Factor: To provide tangible data for decision making.
Secondary Factor: To provide a visual aide to the data presented.

A few years ago I was asked if I could build a map with dots representing all of our patients. That was simple enough, but not very helpful. When I presented the map, it created more questions than it answered. On top of that, it was not very user friendly for a non technical person to create or present.

The docs needed to see where patients lived based on different criteria and some times on subsets of that criteria. They needed to be able to contrast one set versus another very quickly. And, I needed to not be in the room when they were having these discussions. I needed a simple way for them to be able to use this data.

I tried several of the basic mapping programs like Microsoft MapPoint and StreetAtlas. None of those gave me what I needed and they would be too cumbersome for the presenter. Then I stumbled on Caliper Corporation's Maptitude. This is by no means a simple piece of software, but it is a fully GIS compatible mapping solution and it did have one really cool feature. It had the ability to export to KML file. This meant that I could create really complicated maps based on the data from our Patient Management System and give it to the presenter in a dead simple way to use it. For those that don't know what a KML files are, they are the native format used for Google Earth.

The presenters and the docs had all played with Google Earth, they were familiar with the interface. Who hasn't skimmed the earth looking for places you have been, places you want to go or even your house. This was a good solution.

I can now deliver the maps via email and there is no need for me to attend the meetings just to run the maps. This has changed how we make decisions on where to place clinics and dialysis centers. It also helps us make decisions on what clinics to grow and increase staffing to. It has become a critical part of the strategic planning retreats.

The maps they have me make include pin points, areas of influence, heat mapping, zip code zoning, population density, and more. All of which I can export to a KML file and display it as if it was included in Google Earth.